woolythyme

boys....

The CandyMan decided he was going to photo-blog today....

He missed documenting the pound of bacon, 1/2 pound of sausage, package of English muffins and assorted blueberry muffins that he and his brother snarfed down for 'breakfast' mid-morning, and moved directly to the frisbee 'tournament' that lastest about ten tosses.

It was HOT out there. 

 

Hey----out of the garden.  I just planted seeds where you are stepping. (nice daisy picture, though)

Next ....let's recycle all the stuff we used to rehydrate:  sprite, lemonade, iced tea

gee, I thought that would take a bit longer....

We cleaned out Dick's bowl...when a 10 year old says it's time to clean it out---you can be assured it's PAST time.

 

Guess where we are now?  Too easy?  Yep.  We're at the car wash.

Vacuuming is more fun than photographing vacuuming, so the camera is ditched and the rest of his photo-day is now up to me.

***** we found a geocache that we all forgot to document*****

then off to the mega-grocery...

(grandpa and I are no 'dummies'---we bought the 40 lb bag of dogfood and the gigunda case of soft drinks while we had super-help hauling it all in from the car)

I should have reconsidered the oranges, though....

(the bandaid was the result of opening a can earlier....NOT the knife)

They made a huge mess...

which was totally worth it.

and then they tried to kill each other.

 

Tomorrow I need to get more creative....

I have them for more than an hour!!!

easter memories….

I've shared many times---that I grew up as an only child. In my family it was just 'me', but, I was particularly rich in 'cousins' and Easter was a holiday we often shared with them. Eight cousins lived in three houses all in a row on a little rural sleepy road. We stayed in the middle house....the one with the most kids.

My favorite year was the year our over-indulgent bachelor uncle got us all ducks. Baby ducks. Fluffy, yellow, pooping everywhere live ducks. (This was particularly wonderful for this city kid whose only pet was a red-eared slider turtle.) He filled the bathtub and turned those ducks loose. At the time, it was the only bathtub in the house. He quickly became a person non gratis among the other adults, but a folk hero among the 8 and under crowd.

 

While that was my most favorite Easter (EVER!)--even though I wasn't allowed to keep my duck---it wasn't the most memorable. The Easter tradition there was a bit like Christmas. Sometime in the middle of the night, the Easter bunny snuck in and delivered his baskets of goodies. And he was such a smart bunny---always giving everyone exactly what they most desired. Back in those days it was never toys and UnderArmour gear...always food. (like I said, smart bunny!)

 

That beautiful Easter morning I woke to the most awful banshee screaming, crying, kicking, and punching. There was undoubtedly some biting in the mix---it was the age of braces. Apparently, the youngest of the 'cousins' snuck down early to check out the 'loot'---liked what she saw---and proceeded to lick everyone's candy, putting her 'cooties' on the whole lot and declaring it all hers.

 

She left my basket alone.

I always got cottage cheese, black olives, and cocktail onions.  

Gosh, I hope he doesn't forget the cocktail onions this year!

 

Happy Easter, my friends.  Here's hoping your baskets are overflowing with health, happiness, giggles, grace, and the all the hope that this wonderful time of the year brings.

discovery park of america...

 

100,000 square foot building...

on 50 acres...

 

Discovery Park of America sets in the middle of no-where Tennessee.  The old addage---build it and they will come---certainly holds true.  This interactive, educational park was the dream of the Kirkland family---long time residents of Union City, TN.  They felt it unfair that all the big, fun, educational complexes always sat in the middle of huge metropolitan areas; difficult, if not impossible, for rural kids to get to.  As we waited in line for our tickets....bells clanged, lights flashed....the 100,000th person just entered.  (the opening was last November 1st) (The CandyMan was beside himself....he really wanted the free lunch!!)

 

There were stuffed things and bones...

Interactive things...inside and out...

Local history was featured in one exhibit. An earthquake simulator allowed you to'experience' the New Madrid earthquake of 1811-1812; the Mississippi River flowed backwards and Reelfoot Lake was formed.  In the same area was a 20,000 gallon aquarium that you (that's the 'royal' you...not me!) could climb into, showing Reelfoot Lake's ecosystem today.

Nature, science, technology, history, art...we all had a great time.

 

And...there was something for everyone.

 

Even me.

we'll miss you...

Derby

1998-2014

 

She came to live with our daughter and son-in-law the week after they were married....they were married on Derby Day (a rather sacred day if you live in Kentucky!)

 

• She welcomed two babies into the family---and protected them as if they were her own pups.
• She eventually lost her 'wanderlust' but replaced it with an insatiable need for 'cookies'.
• She never lost her love for chewing up her 'mom's' underwear.
• As recently as a month and a half ago, she rooted out the Candy Man's Valentine's Day candy---and ate it all.
• She survived a tummy tumor.  (see above?)
• Her biggest joy in life?....having her 'hiney' scratched.

Derby, we'll all really really miss you.

(Well, maybe not the underwear part.)

 

 

birthday weekending….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the 'three-birthday-weekend'(granddaughter, son, hubby) trip...

 

::  a 6" snowfall!!

::  a 'brought' cake

::  a homemade cake

::  lots of laughs, lots of CAKE!!!, lots of photo-bombing

::  an impromptu dance recital

::  a piano 'recital' before church  (3 of the 4 piano-playing grands played...the 4th r-e-a-l-l-y wanted to play some key-stomping Greek folk tune and boycotted the whole thing when it was deemed not quite church-appropriate)

:: and, of course, lots of knitting....boy knitting, girl knitting...

 

and a very first FO... done with no help.  

We were all very, very proud.   I was thrilled.  She gave it to me, and it wasn't even my birthday!

 

I definitely think it is 'frame-worthy', don't you?

the Santas are nestled all snug in their beds...

The Santas are gone...and the snowmen are out, dreaming of a white winter yet to come.

 

 

It was pretty easy putting Christmas away this year...half the ornaments had fallen off the brittle tree, the amaryllis bloomed around Thanksgiving--leaving just the floppy green leaves, and the Christmas cactus is down to a couple flowers.  The Dollar Store nativity set is still out until next week (yes, the one Freddy LOVES!); the large family Hummel set was gifted this year to our DIL.  She loved it.  (She even loved the fact that her husband had decapitated Caspar when he was little.  --Never fear, head was glued back on.)  

 

While we were visiting son and his family, I thought it would be fun to make a beeswax nativity set for the littles to play with. (I sort of had a theme going this year.) I had brought the molds, the beeswax, and a dedicated wax saucepan with me...we carefully melted the wax, and ever so c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y poured it into the molds.  So far, so good.  After about 30 seconds, the novelty of this project wore off, and off 5 of the 7 grands went for something more exciting than watching wax set.  (The refrig was too full to speed this process along.)  As they ran off, the remaining 2 grands barged into the kitchen from outside (knowing they had missed some unmistakable Grandma-fun)and proceeded to toss a jacket onto the wise men, the shepherd boy, the lamb, and the camel.  Because they also were traipsing mud in their wake....we missed the initial jacket landing.  Do you have any idea how FAST fleece soaks up melted wax?  Instantaneously.  Believe me.  I know.

 

After about an hour of picking wax (and ironing it and freezing it--I now feel well versed in wax removal), I gave up and grabbed the guilty grand and out we went to buy a new coat.  Phew.  Solved that problem.  (There was a little holiday miracle out of this....while the wisemen didn't make it, the shepherd boy was footless, the camel had no head, the angel lost his wings---Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus escaped totally unscathed.)

 

We got home with a pot still half full of wax.  Why not?  I'll make my own beeswax set without any little people help.

I melted the plastic wax molds.  oops.

 

New Year's Resolution....

I'm sticking to knitting.

 

Happy New Year, friends!!  Have you made any resolutions this year???

Drop everything...

I got a call today from my 5 year old granddaughter.

 

'Grandma.  Will you knit me some socks?'

(This is the Granddaughter who told Santa last year that she didn't want anything from him.  Her Grandma was knitting her American Girl doll clothes for Christmas and that's all she wanted.)

 

You bet I'll knit those socks!!

quiet, quiet weekend

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The most exciting thing we did all weekend was walk the dog.  (Unless you count the trip to Sam's Club for potty paper and paper towels.  That actually was rather exciting...we got out of there for under $50, which probably has never happened before---nor will ever happen again.)

I finally remembered to grab the camera as Fred lunged out the door.  It seems just yesterday the trees looked like they were on fire....some of the best colors I remember seeing in years.  Sadly, they are already past prime.  The camera and I missed it.  The ones hanging on (fewer ever day) just aren't as pretty any more. Looking brittle.  One good old fall storm....and poof...we're going to be blown into winter.

But the temperatures were great.  PapaGeek wore is new Guatemala wool hat and proclaimed it very toasty.  Me?  I was wearing Rikke on my head, these fingerless mitts, this sweater, a sweater swing jacket I sort of live in all winter (made out of Rowan denim...why did they discontinue that yarn....I LOVED it!), this cowl (which didn't go with anything, but it's new, so I wanted to wear it), and of course, knit socks.  I L-O-V-E fall!!!!!!!!!

 

Even the knitting was rather quiet.... # 1 Daughter and I sat on basketball bleachers for a couple hours knitting miniature watchcaps, waiting for the boys to get in their games (20 kids on a school basketball team is simple tooooooo many).

But, it helped the pile grow.

Mostly, though....I spent this weekend dreaming.

Dreaming BIG!!!

A beautiful day for a battle....

It was a beautiful day for a battle.

 

We watched the French negotiate support from the Indians...

 

they bartered successfully.  The Indians joined their ranks.

 

The British readied themselves

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and before you knew it, the French and Indians were victorious (they always win on Saturday---the British win on Sunday.  Fair is fair, n'est pas?)

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Something for everyone....

food!!

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entertainment...

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eye candy....

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oops, I mean....eye candy (fiber!)

 

(we always root for the Indians....wonder why?)

 

weekending....

cooking...

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partying...

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harvesting....

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choosing just the right one...

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while one just picked flowers...

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and of course, there was knitting!